April 30, 2025 • 42 mins
In this Episode Fred and Lane talks to the acclaimed violinist Virgil Lupu of Forte Music School the area's largest private music school serving over 900 students in the area, Forte Music School has been recognized for its excellence, receiving awards such as the BBB Torch Awards 2023, Toledo Parents Family Favorites and Best of Thumbtack.
In the Second Half John Bellomy of Erie Home Improvement talks about his passion for construction and hands-on building. Expanding his business not only focusing on roofing but also siding, and small remodeling jobs.
Forte Music School
Erie Home Improvement
In the Second Half John Bellomy of Erie Home Improvement talks about his passion for construction and hands-on building. Expanding his business not only focusing on roofing but also siding, and small remodeling jobs.
Forte Music School
Erie Home Improvement
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to a Heart for Business. I'm Fred Lafever and
along with Lane Mons, President CEO the Better Business Bureau
of Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, we'll highlight a local
business weekly. You'll discover why these small local business owners
have a passion for what they do and why the
(00:26):
Better Business Bureau has a heart for business.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Now here's Lane Months.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Welcome to the program. Listeners. Thanks for joining us. You're
why we exist, so thank you. I'm Lane Mons from
the Better Business Bureau or as some people say, the B,
B and B. And with me behind the big board,
Fred Lafever. He's got a little bit of experience when
it comes to radio broadcasting and podcasting, just a little bit.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I'm hoping to keep this job for a while.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I hope I don't ruin it for you, Fred, I
really truly do. And with me today the first segment
we have two segments always, This is episode twelve. As
I said, for segment, Virgil LOOPU from Forte Music School.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Hello everybody, Hello Fred, Hello Lane, thank you very much
for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Virgil on the problem. I've had Virgil on before. Actually,
I think probably the first year you started.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
How long ago was that there was twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Twenty fourteen when they first came to town and decided
to do so. I remembers talking about where you would
get your instruments from, and the different classes you would
be offering, and what your mission statement was. Has that
changed at all?
Speaker 4 (01:29):
And all these years been quite an adventure when I
started with no experience. What's an LLC? What means this
and that? With an accountant?
Speaker 5 (01:37):
What did they do?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
None of that's important, Virgil, None of that's important.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, I'm curious now because one of the things that
we've talked about on my radio show are people who
and especially during the pandemic, when a lot of guys
and a lot of women decided I'm gonna try something new,
all right, and I'm going to start my own business.
But they go off without knowing what's an accountant, what's
the CP hey, what do I need to do when
it comes to paying Social Security taxes? Where do I
(02:04):
get a loan from? And all that stuff. Did someone
mentor you through all of that or was it a
trial by error for you?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
It was definitely a try by air, and thankfully I
had the good guidance around me, and I'm very thankful
for that. Curiosity is what made me keep going because
I had to find out all the answers, and yeah,
it's been an adventure, but definitely, looking back, I'm very
grateful for everything.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
So most listeners probably won't know Virgil is a highly
skilled performing violinist with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. Sits in
the first violin section. Whoa chair number four? I think
typically Virgil.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Well, let's not get into those details, but.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
So you should know he comes with bona fides here
when you say he when he's got a music school.
He's also highly skilled, highly skilled violinist. I know because
I've actually sat beside Virgil. Fred doesn't know. I play
violin in the Slovenia Community Orchestra and Virgil and played
at my church for a while. And so just you know,
(03:03):
I have to be honest because I am representing the
BB and B. I'm a piker, piker compared to Virgil
is it's a lot of pressure when you sit next
to a professional violence.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Okay Virgil, honestly, and a battle between you two and
the devil if you were to meet in Georgia, which one.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Of you would win?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
That well, I guess we would have to try it out.
I don't know how much Lane has been practicing later,
so I.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Don't know that may have already happened, Fred, and this
may be my punishment. I may already be serving time
in the lower regions. So well, Virgil, thanks for being
on the program. When Fred hears about your growth compared
to when he had you on his radio program before,
he's going to be blown away. So first of all,
why don't you tell the audience a little bit about
Virgil and a little bit about fourteen Music School and
(03:51):
how you birthed that school from scratch. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
So it was actually open in two thousand and six
by Jim Stanton, who is teaching there, and it's just
a fantastic person and human being with a lot of
love for what he does, and he teaches piano and
voice lesson Still, so I've been teaching there for a
while before Jim approached me and he said, look looks
(04:16):
like you're very entrepreneurial minded and I think you do
great taking this over. So that's what happened. In twenty fourteen,
I decided to make the switch. So at that point,
there were about one hundred students in the school and
ever since, knocking all kinds of doors, looking for answers
and figuring things out, we were able to grow it
(04:38):
to nine hundred students today.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Nine hundred really, that's what I said. Wow, yeah, it's
quite amazing.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I wouldn't never guess. So there's a hunger out there
for kids to learn music.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Well, thankfully people realize how important the music education is
and we are there to support that. And it's been
very worthing seeing all these talented kids on stage over
the years. Actually, it's quite surprising to be able to
hire them as teachers at this point since Forte has
been around almost for ninety nineteen years. So now a
(05:14):
few students I actually our teachers, and they are doing
fantastic and they're able to share the love of music.
Looking at the kids where you know they've been there
at some point in their youth.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
So they don't teach you accounting in LLCs and legal
when you're When you're learning to be a classical violinist,
I was busy, and.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
I mentioned so much time in the practice room with
the violin that absolutely not I had no idea what
an LC was.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Did you like to did you like the practice no
one likes to.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
No one likes to practice, no one evants to put
in the work.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And virtual where are you from?
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Originally Romania is probably everybody noticed that I have an
accent that will never go away.
Speaker 6 (05:52):
You do.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And your lovely wife who helps you run the school
is from.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
My wife is from Russia. Her name is Kay and
she's very eager to be part of this. She's been
joining me for about five years now to run the school.
And she actually started the music fun Time program for
toddlers and it's very successful. She puts a lot of
love in it. She's very passionate about youngsters and seeing
(06:20):
them on stage and growing and developing as young musicians.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And I think the words you used about your wife
probably fits you also and what you do at the school,
and I would assume any teachers that you hire is
the passion part. You have a passion for passing along
the gift that you have to other people, right.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Right, And you know, we're realizing that music education and
education in general, it's so important. What better way would
be to invest in your child than in education and
music that's such an important difference to the development of
the brain. It's one of the very very few fields
(07:01):
that actually develop your motor skills, your muscles, your memory,
your brain, your feelings. It's an all inclusive type of
activity that we're very proud to be able to offer
to this area and to such a quality that we
put so much love into every details of the er.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And I think that's where the practice comes in. Even
though you hate the practice all right, the lesson that
you're learning, not just the music part, but the lesson
that you're learning from the practice is that it takes
hard work to move from that point to the point
that you want to get to. And that translates into
what you're doing in school.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Right, That's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
Anything you do with a passion, and you have to
realize that nothing comes free.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
You have to put in the work.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
So whether it's music or you know, playing an instrument, sports, anything,
you have to put in the work first and then
you get the rewards. You cannot get the rewards first,
and then we.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
All want the reward first. So Virgil, it's a trend
these days. It's a lesson that is so hard for
young people. It was hard for me when I was young,
and it might be harder today. With the fast, fast
moving way that culture changes and and the story. You
only see the success stories on social media, right Virtually
you only see people at the end of their journey
when they're successful, but you don't see the incremental improvement.
(08:23):
Most greatness comes from steady, persistent incremental improvement. It doesn't
It seems to explode, but that doesn't really happen that way.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
That's correct.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
A lot of work goes into every big achievement and
talking about that. Why don't you tell the listeners a
little bit about your story with the violin playing?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Do you really virgual? When did you start?
Speaker 7 (08:47):
So?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
I started when I was nine years old. Why I
don't know, because I wasn't any I couldn't shoot a basketball.
That's probably the main reason.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
So I mean, but that's unusual because I couldn't shoot
basketballs either. But I didn't turn to music well.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
So I grew up in Finley. Finley, Ohio has been
known to have a strong music program for a very
long time, especially under the original guidance of David Hanson
and Tom Carey, both of whom were part of that
music program for a long time. I started as a
very young child. I continued all the way through high school.
I did sit first violin like Virgil, I had some
natural aptitude. I wasn't very disciplined. And then I went
(09:24):
to college and I kept the violin. But a couple
of distractions happened around that time. Alcohol and girls primarily
are what got me distracted. And then I got married
and had kids, so I put it away. Fred I
don't even know what happened to my original violin. Wow.
And then I did get divorced, and I decided. I
found out that Sylvenia had an orchestra, which surprised me,
(09:45):
and I said, can I still play? So I drove
to Cleveland Heights and bought an instrument. And I know
for a fact my kids thought I was having a
midlife crisis. That's absolutely true. They are a Corvette. They
had never seen me play an instrument or sing or
do anything musical, so I'm sure when they saw it
(10:06):
they were like, we don't know what the hell dad's doing.
But I still I could play and then so it's
still its incremental improvements. So it only took twenty or
twenty five years off right.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Something that stays with you after a child learns And
probably a lot of people like lane. They give up
at some point, they have other things that take their interest.
But does that inmateability stay with you and the lessons
that you've.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Learned, Yes, of course, depending on how long you stick
with it. In your case, you were a lucky one
that you stuck with it for so long actually, and
then when you pick it back up, it makes it
a lot easier. And of course life gets in the way,
and we have a lot of adults in similar situations
where they come back and they say, you know, I
want to pick it up.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
So, Virgil, I was learning about accounting and LLC's and
other things. Growth that did happen. Yeah, so that's part
of the reason.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
Yeah. So, and then the.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Part that is not so fortunate is that there's quite
a few parents and students that maybe tried for a
couple of months and then they give up right away.
And I'm thinking, oh, my gosh, you didn't even get
a chance to Yeah, you barely got a chance to
be exposed. You know, you took the initiative, you came in,
you registered, you got things going, we found a great
(11:21):
teacher for you. And now you're like, oh, you know,
Johnny doesn't practice that much and it's disappointing because as
soon as they get over this little bump in the road,
that they realize that actually, I have to put in
the works that as long as people get over that bump,
then the rest of the journey will be very easy.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Well, what are the rewards?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
And how can you explain that to a parent, for instance,
who brings a six year old in to learn piano
or something. How do you explain to them, Look, this
is gonna be tough, but boy, at the end of this,
here's the reward.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Oh, the rewards are so long, and the list goes
on and on, but I would brush just on a
couple of things which to me are very important.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
Especially in this day and age.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
The discipline is number one, because you cannot make progress
without discipline. So you have to practice every day in
order to get some rewards, and that that translates to
the to the parents and to the kids that we
need the discipline, whether you do this playing an instrument
or anything in life. Number two is that it also
involves math, because music is math. You're counting, you're you're
(12:28):
learning your then of course the musical pleasure that you're
getting out of it, and the excitement. Of course, it
takes time to learn a piece, but once you learn it,
you can play it for your friends, you can be
on stage, you can do anything. Absolutely, there's a lot
of accounplished something correct.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
So I played a lot of beach saying volleyball when
I was younger, played my way through college, not in
any professional way, but we had a lot of fun
doing it. I cannot go out at the age of
that I'm at and spike the ball over a volleyball
matenter back. I was a lot of everything back then.
I was a lot of everything back then. For But
the point I'm making is to the listeners and to
(13:09):
bounce off of Virgil's theme here of stick touitivity, stick toutivity.
I can. I'm continuing to get better at playing violin
at this point in my life, and I look forward
to playing for the next twenty years. We had a
member in the Slovenia Orchestra, Rosemary, who played until she
was ninety nine. She started playing when she was nine.
(13:29):
She finally stepped away when she was ninety nine.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
You know, it keeps everything going, you know, your muscle,
memory or your attention, your memory, your excitement. It's a
great activity that kind of puts everything together.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Now, personally, do you still practice every day right? Because
you're part of the orchestra.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
I still practice, of course, And.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
He didn't say every day, right.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Are there pieces as you get into this, are there
pieces you look at and say, Okay, I have to
reset my goal. I made the symphony, but man, there's
a piece that I really want to learn to play. Well,
that's my next goal. Do you reset goals for yourself
as you go along?
Speaker 5 (14:12):
You do?
Speaker 4 (14:12):
And and you have you you play recitals, you play
chamber of music concerts, you play symphony concerts, and you're
constantly challenged by one piece or another, and you know,
I wish I had a little bit more time to
to play these days. The music school is keeping us
very busy, as you can imagine, and thankfully we've been
(14:33):
growing and every step of the way requires another step
on another development. So yeah, it's it's been a very
pleasant journey.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
So you're on violin. What does your wife teach?
Speaker 5 (14:46):
She's she doesn't teach.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
She finished an MBA here at ut with focused on
administration and marketing and and yes, and.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It's good playing, very handy caught that she.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Does a great job.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
And and so she takes piano lessons for fun and
to understand, and she loves it and she.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Takes with piano. I know you take voice because my
granddaughter took voice. There run down the list of opportunities for.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
We're going to now go into the long extended segment
because he doesn't know how many instruments because I was
shocked when I heard it. Really it's very impressive.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Well, so we try to cover all the instruments. Of course,
the kazoo is not in the repertoire. Unfortunately, we don't
have a kazoo teacher, but we don't like to volunteer.
All right, well, very good, So we teach all instruments, winds, brass, strings, drums, voice, piano, guitar,
(15:47):
everything you can think of, pretty much.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
So band and orchestra and concert band, concert band, marching band, orchestra.
Speaker 5 (15:53):
Correct everything.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Yes, so we have about fifty teachers whichoose from. And
so one of our is is that we can probably
accommodate a family of two, three, four on the same day,
same time because of the volume.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Of when it comes to that kind of stuff, Yeah,
what about your physical facility, because you you grew from
one little slot down on what's what.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
It's on Sylvania.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yeah, and now you've taken over a whole block almost.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
We we thankfully grew little by little, and thankfully those
spaces became available as.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
At the right time as we're growing.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
So so now we're occupying four four little sections about
ten thousand square feet or so. They're not little actually
more on Avenue on Sylvania Avenue. So we have about
forty practice rooms. So it's and we have a dance
dance studio as well.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
You are you busy then? Pretty much?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
And like what are the operating hours for people who
want to know and how do they get.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
A hold of you?
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Nine am to nine pm Monday to Friday and Saturday
Sunday nine am to five pm.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Okay, so that's I mean, you can fit that. And
they're just about anybody's schedule pretty much after school, especially
during the summer, spring breaks, things like that.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Forte honestly, and of course I do know Virgil a
little bit, but they it's grown into the pre eminent
music school, a private music school in this area in
northwest Ohio. It's it's done a fantastic job, and I'm
so glad that so many students are learning from you,
and they'll If they're taking it privately, then chances are
(17:30):
so much better that they'll develop a love and a
passion for it that will last beyond high school.
Speaker 5 (17:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
You know, we we're blessed to be able to do
these kind of things. And there's nothing like seeing a
kid that started when he was two three years old
and now you see them at twelve thirteen on stage
and performing so well and with such passion, and it's
really rewarding.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
That's that really keeps us going.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
I'm glad you said that because I was just about
to ask is there a start age or an end
age any of this?
Speaker 4 (18:00):
Yeah, we start them at toddler, so about two years old.
And I have not thought about the cut off the age.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Plain too old.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
He will qualify he's at mid age.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I just don't pick a cutoff age. That's the department
of sales prevention. You know you're getting into. Your wife
is not going to let you tell anybody there's two
that you can be too old to tell.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Well, then the thing is it harder, Like I'm already
seventy something, so I'm not going to start a new
hobby because you know, but you're in your forties and
you always wanted to learn how to play guitar or piano.
Is it too late? Is that ever too late?
Speaker 5 (18:35):
It's not too late.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
And a lot of people might think that the only
difference is that, of course the motor skills, you know,
fingers move a little bit, not as they don't cooperate
necessarily as as well as when you are younger. But so, yeah, okay,
it's going to be a little bit slower progress, but
you're still going to make progress.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
You're still going to enjoy it.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
You're going to have the relationship with your teacher, You're
gonna have the opportunities to meet other people in the
music world. You're gonna perform on stage. It's a lot
of it's a really overall gratifying activity.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Virtue, What was the inspiration for excuse me, what was
the inspiration for starting? You had a successful classical music
career in you know, you're in a major symphony orchestra
that's well regarded across the nation. What was the inspiration
to start?
Speaker 4 (19:24):
You know, this was never on my to do list
to take on this challenge of running a music school,
and it kind of landed unexpectedly I always thought I'm
going to eventually maybe even teach at a college. So
I was on track to continue my doctorate education and
this came out of nowhere and I thought, Okay, well,
(19:47):
you know what this opportunity is here, I'm going to
give it a try and see where it goes, and
if it fails, that that's what it is.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
I'll move on with my life.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
So but it was quite the country and I really
enjoyed it, and I still do. Uh, it's it's like
I said, it's very rewarding to see those kids perform,
and yeah, it's uh, it's been I guess I found
my forte as well in a business.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
By the way to award by the way, a Torch
Award winner with the Better Business Bureau. We've got to
mention that. So, yeah, thank you award winner for excellence
and congratulations.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
As we wrap it up, give people information on how
they can contact you. Facebook, website, phone number.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
We Yeah, very easy to find, especially if you just
type fourte music school. We're on Sylvania and Seco area. Well,
we'll be glad that to show you around, give you
a little tour, and yeah, we hope that you will
find your own forte excellent.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Thanks a lot, everyone. This is the end of the
first segment. We will be back after a short break
with John Bellamy and Eerie Home Improvement. Did you know
our area has over forty thousand businesses. Some are old,
some are new, but they all have a story to
tell about why they sell, how someone took a chance
once upon a time, someone with a heart for business. Hi,
this is Lane Monts, the host of the Better Business
(21:08):
Bureaus Heart for Business podcast. We know a thing or
two about our area's companies, after all, we've been keeping
tabs on them since nineteen nineteen. Join me in Toledo
radio legend Fred la Fever every week as our BBB
superheroes tell their origin story and share a few industry
secrets along the way. Welcome back to the program everyone,
Thanks for rejoining us after the break. I'm here today
(21:29):
with John Bellamy from Eerie Home Improvement out of the
Port Clinton, Sandusky area. Correct, yes, sir, And by the way,
I'm going to take this moment to mention Fred. This
is episode twelve, the second half of episode twelve. Wow,
I know, I wasn't sure we'd make it past episode one,
so we're one of the few podcasts for the Better
Business Bureau system across North America. This is the end
(21:51):
of the first quarter, so we'll be booking guests for
the second quarter as we speak. And so if you'd
like to be on the program or you have any questions,
comments or suggestions, you can email me Podgoblin at toledobbb
dot org. Podgoblin pod Goblin at toledobbb dot org. But
enough about us.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Yeah, because apparently we saved the best for last. This
is the second segment of the final show. As he said,
it's John Bellamy from my Eerie Home Improvements and we
were talking before we started recording. You're what twenty.
Speaker 6 (22:26):
Nine, twenty nine years old?
Speaker 2 (22:27):
You're a punk, he said.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
I've been doing this.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
I've been doing this all my life.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
You have how well he has been doing it all
his life.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
When did you start?
Speaker 6 (22:40):
Ah man?
Speaker 7 (22:43):
You know my I got two older brothers in the industry,
both the construction companies. I always had a liking to it.
I've always been good with my hands, never a book learner,
so I started building clubhouses in my backyard when I
was a little kid. Really yeah, anytime I can get
my anytime Dad went to work, and I had access
to the garage. You best believe I was in there
(23:04):
taking you know, the little nails and the hammer and
any piece of wood I can get and building some
kind of club house.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Seriously, so you really have been at it your whole life.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Whole life is your dad? Is your daddy?
Speaker 7 (23:15):
No, my dad actually owns a diesel mechanic business.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
Hands.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
Yeah, he's good with his hands. But you know, my
two older brothers. One owns a roofing company. He does roofing,
siding and uh gutters. And then I have another older
brother he does uh interior remodeling, so you know, he
does the inside and uh.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Whose company is the biggest mine? Yeah, and you're the youngest.
Speaker 6 (23:39):
I'm the youngest.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Oh, that's got to be fun it Thanksgiving?
Speaker 3 (23:42):
I was thinking too, feeling.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
So your one brother, your brother Daryl, does roofing. Your
other brother, Darryl does does siding. What does his brother do?
Speaker 6 (23:52):
I do it all? We do it all. We build
from the ground up.
Speaker 7 (23:55):
We remodel, we uh do small repairs, roofing, siding, windows, doors,
h new construction, room expansions, flooring, hard escapes, retaining walls.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
You know, foundation do you hire your brothers.
Speaker 7 (24:10):
I've honestly tried, uh the one, you know, the middle brother,
you know, but he he's got his family down there.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
And Okay, where's down there, Dayton, Ohio?
Speaker 7 (24:21):
Okay, all right, it's not too far, about two hours
that a city or just a yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
That's the that's the poor little sister for what you're operating.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
What you're operating area.
Speaker 7 (24:33):
Then we operate from Fremont, Oak Harbor all the way
out to you know, Port Clinton, uh, Marblehead, Lakeside, Cataba,
Sandusky here on.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
So you've got a pretty good area. And and your
other brother does he work in this area?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Also?
Speaker 6 (24:49):
No, they stay in the greater Dayton area.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Is that where you're originally from.
Speaker 7 (24:53):
Yeah, I got tired of, you know, fighting them for
for jobs, so you moved to the north coast. Yeah,
it's thinking it's better opportunities out here.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Well, yeah, there's a lot of lack of.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
Contractors in this this you know side of Ohio.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
So I'm gonna say there's a lack of good guns
right because the audience may or may not know. Ohio
is one of those states that does not license, does
not require a license for general contractors. Lots of states, Yeah,
lots of states do like of course, you still need
a license to be a plumber, electrician, h VAC boiler,
but to be a general contractor or a builder, you
(25:31):
don't need a license. In Ohio. I've been I've been
a personally been an advocate that the Ohio should adopt that,
but it has no mindset to do so. But what
that means is anybody with a truck, van or or
AMC pacer and a hammer.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
So it's so knowing that I didn't wasn't aware of
that before. How do you convince people a I'm the
best guy for the job. One of us are licensed
or anything, but I'm the guy you want.
Speaker 7 (25:55):
I register with every county. Uh, okay, doing so, I
registered as a GC, and doing that, I'm able to
do my own job. I can do the bigger jobs
where a lot of companies won't go and.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
Pay their dues, their fees. They stayed at a small scale,
hidden behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
They would fly under the radar. Are going to be
front and center.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
What are you registering?
Speaker 7 (26:17):
As you said, DC was a general contractor a GC GC,
so we do you know?
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Do it all all right?
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I didn't realize you could do that.
Speaker 7 (26:27):
There's certain like I believe it's Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland
you do you can get. There's certain jobs you cannot
land unless you do have Ohio's GC.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
And Toledo I know because I held that license for
twenty years. It's a very difficult test. And there was
a not to get into this too much, but there
was a legal debate as to whether cities could have
licenses when the state of Ohio decided you didn't need one,
and that kind of shook out. Under the Ohio home
rule law, you can as a city licensed contractor separately. So,
but to work in Toledo, if you're if you're doing
(27:01):
a job and you don't have the license, and BBB
checks for that, by the way, you can be red tagged,
and the and the building Inspects actually have the power
of criminal prosecution. Really they can bring a charge against you. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
So what was the test like that you took?
Speaker 6 (27:15):
I have not taken the test.
Speaker 7 (27:18):
So I so you register though, yes, everywhere I go
I register because you know, I don't I don't hide.
I want to be front and center. I take a
lot of pride in what I do. I you know,
I like to be set different from contractors. They you know,
contractors have a bad name.
Speaker 6 (27:35):
Yeah, you know your calling card absolutely?
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (27:39):
What what makes you have a good name? John? Talk
about that?
Speaker 7 (27:43):
I think I believe what makes us have a good
name is uh. I go out all the way and
above and beyond to.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
Make sure everybody's satisfied.
Speaker 7 (27:50):
You know, I set agreements, I make sure what I'm
doing is clear, and you know, I communicate well. I
show up when I'm when I when I say I'm
going to.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
You know, I don't just hire anybody.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (28:03):
I hire guys that you know are trustworthy, that you
know are somewhat clean cut, as clean cut as you
can get in the construction industry, which uh, you know
that's still far from in between.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
But you know that. I think that's what sets us
apart is uh.
Speaker 7 (28:19):
You know the drive I have to make sure you're
always satisfied.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Now, you you told me you had a slogan. Is
it Imagine Design Build? Am I remembering that?
Speaker 6 (28:29):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
To talk about that.
Speaker 7 (28:31):
We're going to get into that too, I think further
into this podcast.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
But imagine design build for me? Uh?
Speaker 7 (28:38):
I I do a lot of my own designing so
that I always say the customer has an imagine image
of what they want. You know, me and the customer
together design something. I bring their idea to a life
and logical you know way, and then me and my
team build it.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Well, you're not you're not not an architect, no, and
so some times you need I mean, design is one thing,
but are there times when you a homeowner needs to
have that architect stamp.
Speaker 7 (29:06):
Absolutely so, I you know, some uh some additions or
new homes will come up with a design and then
we'll get in touch with somebody that does uh you know,
uh legit blueprints, and then we'll send that idea and
then you know, they'll do their work making sure what
I've got planned is legit and will work, and you
(29:27):
know they'll adjust any areas they want, and then they'll
go ahead and put that out of.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Actually, when you say that, you sit down with them
so by hire and tell you, man, here's what I want.
Uh do you are you actually sitting down then and
like sketching out.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
Oh yeah, I'm very old school.
Speaker 7 (29:42):
I don't do the technology stuff. It hurts my brain.
It's a lot to figure out.
Speaker 5 (29:47):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (29:48):
That's where I consider myself. I'm an old soul there,
I break out the pencil, I break out the big
sheets of paper.
Speaker 6 (29:55):
I got the roller.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
That's what my mentor, Forrest Kushino did. He got the
big graft paper. He would draw it out with a
ruler and start labeling it and if we needed if
we needed stamped prince, then that would go to the
architect and sometimes those would be accepted by the local
building inspectrum.
Speaker 6 (30:11):
Depending on where you're at.
Speaker 7 (30:12):
Yeah, if it's readable and it's got you know, everything
that you know, there's a guideline to follow. And if
as long as you're drawling you know is to that guideline,
they will let it slide.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Have you gotten better at that? And how many years
have you been doing this?
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Thirty seven with your own it's only twenty nine my
own company this is year four, so four.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
So have you gotten better at that portion.
Speaker 6 (30:37):
Of my gosh? Yes?
Speaker 2 (30:39):
When I want to see some of your early drawing time.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
Now I look like scribble. You know when a kid
first starts coloring and it's wondering. That's what it looked like.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
Now I've gotten a little more patient there.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
So so you are building full additions at times, that's
foundation work, structural, all the mechanicals, interior, finish, plumbing, electrical,
you're bringing it all.
Speaker 7 (31:00):
Together, bringing it all together, and those are it's hard
to bring it together, especially when you know you're like
we were talking about earlier. You got anybody that thinks
they know something about construction and they do this, and
then it's hidden by the finish work. Well when you
open it up, and then you're trying to trying to
take that addition and build it to the existing structure.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
It doesn't always work like you.
Speaker 7 (31:22):
Have it in your head because of you know, past
construction crews or companies doing their.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
What I like to call scabbing.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Are seen a lot of when visiting job sites for
remodelers and things that I've worked with in the past.
You see the mistakes that people and some of this
is in homes that are only ten years old.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
You look at a home that's ten years old and
you see all these gaps and wires and crags and
the rafts and stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
It's just like, how did they do that? How did
they get away with that?
Speaker 6 (31:53):
It's like freemont.
Speaker 7 (31:54):
I really try to avoid Freemont at all possible, because
you don't have to have permits to do things that
there so a lot of people just go.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
Out and and free rings.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Wow, it's kind of like the wild West, is what
you're saying. Findley, Well, I grew up in Finley, but
we the company I worked for it was based in Perrysburg,
but we had a pretty large radius. So I mean,
just for the audience to know this is very true.
What John is doing is remodeling, retrofitting additions very It's
(32:27):
it's a lot harder than new construction. And I'm not
and I'm picking on new construction people because they do
an amazing job. They do an amazing job. They produce
some really good product, but there's more ingenuity required to
tie in something new to something old.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
And John, we talked about that.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Can you tell the audience what that challenge is and
why it's important that the designs flow.
Speaker 7 (32:48):
Yeah, that's and that goes with the tag. You know,
when a customer has a certain image in their head.
You know, when I go to the design process, it's
it's what's really going to work, know, because I got
to look at what's existing.
Speaker 6 (33:02):
And what I'm going to do and I got to
fab that to make.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
That work, Meaning fabricate, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7 (33:10):
To you know, build it to make sure it's seamless,
you know, because at the end of all goal is
when you step away from that project, you want it
to look like it was always part of the house.
You don't want it to look like like.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Like a deck or a sun room.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
It's everything has to flow coming off that original building exactly.
Speaker 7 (33:29):
If not, you you look like you got two separate
buildings combined, which I see a lot of is you know,
old to new and they retrofitted together and it just
doesn't blend, you know it.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
What's your favorite project you've ever done?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
John at first club Home, You don't.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
Have a favorite? What was your what was your favorite
girlfriend before you got Is that an equally difficult question
and equally perilous.
Speaker 7 (33:57):
I'd say my favorite one. We just did one actually
over the winner. We removed somebody's garage, removed half the roof,
and then we set you know, we built it as
a thirty eight by sixteen garage edition next to the
existing garage. And then we put ginormous roof trust or
(34:19):
loft trusses on top of their existing structure and tying
into our new structure. And I mean we took a
two bedroom house and turned it into a five bedroom.
Speaker 6 (34:28):
House with a garage.
Speaker 7 (34:30):
Wow, and it's that was probably thus far one of
my favorite jobs we've done. It went smooth to tea actually, besides,
you know the old structure, nothing was square, nothing was level.
I mean there's a couple areas where it was go
(34:53):
to the drawing board, scratch your head, brainstorm with a
couple other guys that you know are well respected and
known in the trade and problem solve.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
You know what time was that in?
Speaker 6 (35:03):
What that was? Marblehead?
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Okay, yep, So, uh.
Speaker 7 (35:07):
You know we were just doing it was a brick
ranch and everything we were doing was a stick build
and you know, uh, ill can you nod on a
twenty foot run? The brick x old x brick exterior
wall was out of square four inches. So when you're
setting pre engineered loft trusses that have a center cord
of thirty foot long, you know when on our on
(35:29):
your planning, you plan everything to go smooth. Well, when
a wall walks out four inches, it really throws a
head scratcher in there.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
That's what calking is for.
Speaker 7 (35:40):
Yeah, yeah, there's a whole there's a paint and pain
make a carpenterybody.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
Yes, and we don't. We don't do that here.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
So is that a job like that? Is that? Is
that what you would rather do because of the challenge?
Speaker 6 (35:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (35:57):
I like yeah, because new construction, and no offense to
anybody that does the new construction, because we do it
as well. But uh, it's almost brainless you start from
the ground up, you know. I mean there are you know,
complexities to it that make it hard, even the new construction,
but the addition building. It keeps you on your p's
(36:17):
and q's, you know, it keeps you sharp. You're thinking
you're burning every avenue, you know, and and sometimes you know,
I don't have the answers, you know, so I gotta
I gotta qualified group of guys that you know, do
the same thing in the same industry. And you know,
also I got some really good sales rep that they
(36:38):
are always a phone call away.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
Hey, this is what I got, this is where we're at.
This is my idea. But what's your idea? You know,
I don't know everything.
Speaker 7 (36:48):
I know a lot, but you know, and I'm I
got some humility to you know, when I need help
or we need to reach out I'm gonna, I'm gonna.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
I'm going to.
Speaker 7 (36:56):
Because you know, it goes to where I want to
be is one of the better people were, if not
the best. And in order to do that, you got
to reach out, you gotta have you got to ask
for help when helps do it right.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
So you're in high school, you're not good at the
book learning, like you said, Uh, at what point did
you say, Okay, my brother is doing this. My dad's
a d's mechanic, he's really good at his hands. I
probably could go ahead and start a company my own.
And then how did that happen? Because obviously you need
a banker and a CPA and somebody to tell you,
(37:27):
you know about Social Security payments for your workers and
all that kind of.
Speaker 7 (37:31):
Staff workers company. Yeah, yeah, I think what said? You know,
I was working for my brothers and then I went
and when I I did some work for another company,
and I seen how Irene his company, I seen the
things that he let fly, and I think, you know
what driven me to start my company was I wanted
(37:53):
to be different. I wanted to ensure good quality work,
and like I was saying previously, you know, I wanted
to create a different aim for contractors. I wanted to
give somebody a peace of mind, somebody, you know. I
want to start a company where somebody the customer can
trust and feel safe around and not feel you know.
Speaker 6 (38:13):
Look they're going to get ripped off exactly.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
Yeah. There's a new generation, a younger generation, Fred. You've
probably noticed it from some of our guests, A younger
generation of young businessmen and that are contractors. And I
feel like the trades fell out of favor for I
don't know, twenty or thirty years, and there's a return
to it coming.
Speaker 5 (38:31):
You can feel it.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
And there's some really good young businessmen and women involved
in construction. And it's different than when I got into
it twenty years ago. I can see a difference.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Did you do any of the career tech stuff through
your high school or through a vocational school at all?
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Or huh?
Speaker 6 (38:47):
I did auto body?
Speaker 7 (38:49):
Did you? I was going to work in my dad's
shop doing bodywork, but I decided that wasn't mechanic in
and turning wrenches isn't my thing. I do like it,
but not a career for me.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Let's be honest. She went to put In Bay, missed
the ferry back, and you never moved back. That's what rights.
Just like like like mad Dog back in his tent
out behind the round house, just kind of planted his
flag there.
Speaker 7 (39:16):
And got somebody pregnant and decided to stay.
Speaker 6 (39:21):
Now she's my fiance.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
That is.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
Nothing motivates a man like to buckle down like that for.
Speaker 6 (39:27):
Time to grow up. Now, you know that was my
grow up point.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
So where are you in five years or are you?
Are you happy with where you're at right now?
Speaker 6 (39:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (39:36):
And it seems like every season we grow and double
and if not triple, you know these past years, we
every season, I mean when people are like this past season, uh,
you know, I was going to one of my big suppliers,
Carter Lumber, and you know they were like, hey man,
you know some of these bigger companies are reaching out saying,
we're you know, there's no work and you're you're busy,
(39:58):
You're slammed. I'm hiring the the dead of Winner, which
in the.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Work for you.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
I got.
Speaker 6 (40:06):
We got eight full.
Speaker 7 (40:07):
Time guys and we have two full time subgroups and
they have subcruise got about you know, anywhere between six
to sixteen working for them, depending on what it is.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
So that's that's actually pretty sizable. Yeah, so what kind
of like, what kind of advertising and promotion to you
don't advertise, that's right, word of mouth. You just fell
down for it, You just ratcheted down.
Speaker 7 (40:31):
I have yard signs, you know, I put the yard
sign in the yard. I have my truck's logoed. But
other than that, I mean, I think it's a waste
of money. I think word of mouth is the best advertising.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
You're going to get. You're going to get to a
size and you're going to be proven wrong about that.
There comes a point where word of mouth alone ain't
gonna get it.
Speaker 7 (40:49):
No, I agree, especially with pulling in more employees. You know,
I think marketing. You know, I got a sister in
Lal who is big in Owen's courting for in the
marketing industry, and she's helping the fiance doing the you know,
Facebook page, and you know, uh, we're doing the website
and everything. And I agree that, you know, I'm I'm
at that point where unfortunately, word of mouth only get
(41:10):
you so far. You got to start marketing. You've got
to ensure that.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
I've even McDonald's markets, Yeah.
Speaker 7 (41:16):
I mean I've I've worked really hard to get the
guys that I got, and the guys that I got
are hard to come by. You don't want to lose
them by having to lay them off by not having
the work. So you do get to a point where,
you know, reeling it in bringing some guys on, you
don't want to lose them. You start to advertise in
ways and market and I'll tell you, well, let's do
(41:36):
a little of that word of mouth right now.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Give me your website, your Facebook and your phone number.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
Second guest today checking their phone for their phone number.
Speaker 7 (41:47):
Your phone number is four one nine six oh seven
one seven nine nine. Facebook is Eerie Home Improvement LLC?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Okay, Erie Home Improvement? And is that the website? Also?
Speaker 6 (41:59):
Do you how that website is the Eerie Elite?
Speaker 4 (42:02):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (42:04):
And we'll be connecting the BBB's Facebook page with yours
if we haven't done so already, and vice versa. You know,
I'm very happy to have young business owners that are
on the up and coming and the Better Business Bureau.
Thank you very much, John for your time today. Any
last message you want to leave the listeners with us?
Fred plays the outro music.
Speaker 6 (42:23):
You want solid work come our way?
Speaker 2 (42:26):
You know you go it sounds like he can take
care of you.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
That's for sure, all right. Thanks a lot everybody for listening,
and this is the end of episode twelve, A Heart
for Business, Lane Monts and Fred La Fever hosted and
sponsored by the Better Business Bureau. Thank you when we
will see you next quarter.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
You can download and listen to this episode at iHeartRadio,
and all the previous episodes are still available on iHeartRadio
dot com.
Welcome to a Heart for Business. I'm Fred Lafever and
along with Lane Mons, President CEO the Better Business Bureau
of Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, we'll highlight a local
business weekly. You'll discover why these small local business owners
have a passion for what they do and why the
(00:26):
Better Business Bureau has a heart for business.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Now here's Lane Months.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Welcome to the program. Listeners. Thanks for joining us. You're
why we exist, so thank you. I'm Lane Mons from
the Better Business Bureau or as some people say, the B,
B and B. And with me behind the big board,
Fred Lafever. He's got a little bit of experience when
it comes to radio broadcasting and podcasting, just a little bit.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I'm hoping to keep this job for a while.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I hope I don't ruin it for you, Fred, I
really truly do. And with me today the first segment
we have two segments always, This is episode twelve. As
I said, for segment, Virgil LOOPU from Forte Music School.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Hello everybody, Hello Fred, Hello Lane, thank you very much
for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Virgil on the problem. I've had Virgil on before. Actually,
I think probably the first year you started.
Speaker 5 (01:13):
How long ago was that there was twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Twenty fourteen when they first came to town and decided
to do so. I remembers talking about where you would
get your instruments from, and the different classes you would
be offering, and what your mission statement was. Has that
changed at all?
Speaker 4 (01:29):
And all these years been quite an adventure when I
started with no experience. What's an LLC? What means this
and that? With an accountant?
Speaker 5 (01:37):
What did they do?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
None of that's important, Virgil, None of that's important.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, I'm curious now because one of the things that
we've talked about on my radio show are people who
and especially during the pandemic, when a lot of guys
and a lot of women decided I'm gonna try something new,
all right, and I'm going to start my own business.
But they go off without knowing what's an accountant, what's
the CP hey, what do I need to do when
it comes to paying Social Security taxes? Where do I
(02:04):
get a loan from? And all that stuff. Did someone
mentor you through all of that or was it a
trial by error for you?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
It was definitely a try by air, and thankfully I
had the good guidance around me, and I'm very thankful
for that. Curiosity is what made me keep going because
I had to find out all the answers, and yeah,
it's been an adventure, but definitely, looking back, I'm very
grateful for everything.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
So most listeners probably won't know Virgil is a highly
skilled performing violinist with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. Sits in
the first violin section. Whoa chair number four? I think
typically Virgil.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Well, let's not get into those details, but.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
So you should know he comes with bona fides here
when you say he when he's got a music school.
He's also highly skilled, highly skilled violinist. I know because
I've actually sat beside Virgil. Fred doesn't know. I play
violin in the Slovenia Community Orchestra and Virgil and played
at my church for a while. And so just you know,
(03:03):
I have to be honest because I am representing the
BB and B. I'm a piker, piker compared to Virgil
is it's a lot of pressure when you sit next
to a professional violence.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Okay Virgil, honestly, and a battle between you two and
the devil if you were to meet in Georgia, which one.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Of you would win?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
That well, I guess we would have to try it out.
I don't know how much Lane has been practicing later,
so I.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Don't know that may have already happened, Fred, and this
may be my punishment. I may already be serving time
in the lower regions. So well, Virgil, thanks for being
on the program. When Fred hears about your growth compared
to when he had you on his radio program before,
he's going to be blown away. So first of all,
why don't you tell the audience a little bit about
Virgil and a little bit about fourteen Music School and
(03:51):
how you birthed that school from scratch. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
So it was actually open in two thousand and six
by Jim Stanton, who is teaching there, and it's just
a fantastic person and human being with a lot of
love for what he does, and he teaches piano and
voice lesson Still, so I've been teaching there for a
while before Jim approached me and he said, look looks
(04:16):
like you're very entrepreneurial minded and I think you do
great taking this over. So that's what happened. In twenty fourteen,
I decided to make the switch. So at that point,
there were about one hundred students in the school and
ever since, knocking all kinds of doors, looking for answers
and figuring things out, we were able to grow it
(04:38):
to nine hundred students today.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Nine hundred really, that's what I said. Wow, yeah, it's
quite amazing.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I wouldn't never guess. So there's a hunger out there
for kids to learn music.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Well, thankfully people realize how important the music education is
and we are there to support that. And it's been
very worthing seeing all these talented kids on stage over
the years. Actually, it's quite surprising to be able to
hire them as teachers at this point since Forte has
been around almost for ninety nineteen years. So now a
(05:14):
few students I actually our teachers, and they are doing
fantastic and they're able to share the love of music.
Looking at the kids where you know they've been there
at some point in their youth.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
So they don't teach you accounting in LLCs and legal
when you're When you're learning to be a classical violinist,
I was busy, and.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
I mentioned so much time in the practice room with
the violin that absolutely not I had no idea what
an LC was.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Did you like to did you like the practice no
one likes to.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
No one likes to practice, no one evants to put
in the work.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And virtual where are you from?
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Originally Romania is probably everybody noticed that I have an
accent that will never go away.
Speaker 6 (05:52):
You do.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And your lovely wife who helps you run the school
is from.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
My wife is from Russia. Her name is Kay and
she's very eager to be part of this. She's been
joining me for about five years now to run the school.
And she actually started the music fun Time program for
toddlers and it's very successful. She puts a lot of
love in it. She's very passionate about youngsters and seeing
(06:20):
them on stage and growing and developing as young musicians.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
And I think the words you used about your wife
probably fits you also and what you do at the school,
and I would assume any teachers that you hire is
the passion part. You have a passion for passing along
the gift that you have to other people, right.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Right, And you know, we're realizing that music education and
education in general, it's so important. What better way would
be to invest in your child than in education and
music that's such an important difference to the development of
the brain. It's one of the very very few fields
(07:01):
that actually develop your motor skills, your muscles, your memory,
your brain, your feelings. It's an all inclusive type of
activity that we're very proud to be able to offer
to this area and to such a quality that we
put so much love into every details of the er.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And I think that's where the practice comes in. Even
though you hate the practice all right, the lesson that
you're learning, not just the music part, but the lesson
that you're learning from the practice is that it takes
hard work to move from that point to the point
that you want to get to. And that translates into
what you're doing in school.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
Right, That's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
Anything you do with a passion, and you have to
realize that nothing comes free.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
You have to put in the work.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
So whether it's music or you know, playing an instrument, sports, anything,
you have to put in the work first and then
you get the rewards. You cannot get the rewards first,
and then we.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
All want the reward first. So Virgil, it's a trend
these days. It's a lesson that is so hard for
young people. It was hard for me when I was young,
and it might be harder today. With the fast, fast
moving way that culture changes and and the story. You
only see the success stories on social media, right Virtually
you only see people at the end of their journey
when they're successful, but you don't see the incremental improvement.
(08:23):
Most greatness comes from steady, persistent incremental improvement. It doesn't
It seems to explode, but that doesn't really happen that way.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
That's correct.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
A lot of work goes into every big achievement and
talking about that. Why don't you tell the listeners a
little bit about your story with the violin playing?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Do you really virgual? When did you start?
Speaker 7 (08:47):
So?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
I started when I was nine years old. Why I
don't know, because I wasn't any I couldn't shoot a basketball.
That's probably the main reason.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
So I mean, but that's unusual because I couldn't shoot
basketballs either. But I didn't turn to music well.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
So I grew up in Finley. Finley, Ohio has been
known to have a strong music program for a very
long time, especially under the original guidance of David Hanson
and Tom Carey, both of whom were part of that
music program for a long time. I started as a
very young child. I continued all the way through high school.
I did sit first violin like Virgil, I had some
natural aptitude. I wasn't very disciplined. And then I went
(09:24):
to college and I kept the violin. But a couple
of distractions happened around that time. Alcohol and girls primarily
are what got me distracted. And then I got married
and had kids, so I put it away. Fred I
don't even know what happened to my original violin. Wow.
And then I did get divorced, and I decided. I
found out that Sylvenia had an orchestra, which surprised me,
(09:45):
and I said, can I still play? So I drove
to Cleveland Heights and bought an instrument. And I know
for a fact my kids thought I was having a
midlife crisis. That's absolutely true. They are a Corvette. They
had never seen me play an instrument or sing or
do anything musical, so I'm sure when they saw it
(10:06):
they were like, we don't know what the hell dad's doing.
But I still I could play and then so it's
still its incremental improvements. So it only took twenty or
twenty five years off right.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Something that stays with you after a child learns And
probably a lot of people like lane. They give up
at some point, they have other things that take their interest.
But does that inmateability stay with you and the lessons
that you've.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Learned, Yes, of course, depending on how long you stick
with it. In your case, you were a lucky one
that you stuck with it for so long actually, and
then when you pick it back up, it makes it
a lot easier. And of course life gets in the way,
and we have a lot of adults in similar situations
where they come back and they say, you know, I
want to pick it up.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
So, Virgil, I was learning about accounting and LLC's and
other things. Growth that did happen. Yeah, so that's part
of the reason.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
Yeah. So, and then the.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Part that is not so fortunate is that there's quite
a few parents and students that maybe tried for a
couple of months and then they give up right away.
And I'm thinking, oh, my gosh, you didn't even get
a chance to Yeah, you barely got a chance to
be exposed. You know, you took the initiative, you came in,
you registered, you got things going, we found a great
(11:21):
teacher for you. And now you're like, oh, you know,
Johnny doesn't practice that much and it's disappointing because as
soon as they get over this little bump in the road,
that they realize that actually, I have to put in
the works that as long as people get over that bump,
then the rest of the journey will be very easy.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Well, what are the rewards?
Speaker 1 (11:44):
And how can you explain that to a parent, for instance,
who brings a six year old in to learn piano
or something. How do you explain to them, Look, this
is gonna be tough, but boy, at the end of this,
here's the reward.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Oh, the rewards are so long, and the list goes
on and on, but I would brush just on a
couple of things which to me are very important.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
Especially in this day and age.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
The discipline is number one, because you cannot make progress
without discipline. So you have to practice every day in
order to get some rewards, and that that translates to
the to the parents and to the kids that we
need the discipline, whether you do this playing an instrument
or anything in life. Number two is that it also
involves math, because music is math. You're counting, you're you're
(12:28):
learning your then of course the musical pleasure that you're
getting out of it, and the excitement. Of course, it
takes time to learn a piece, but once you learn it,
you can play it for your friends, you can be
on stage, you can do anything. Absolutely, there's a lot
of accounplished something correct.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
So I played a lot of beach saying volleyball when
I was younger, played my way through college, not in
any professional way, but we had a lot of fun
doing it. I cannot go out at the age of
that I'm at and spike the ball over a volleyball
matenter back. I was a lot of everything back then.
I was a lot of everything back then. For But
the point I'm making is to the listeners and to
(13:09):
bounce off of Virgil's theme here of stick touitivity, stick toutivity.
I can. I'm continuing to get better at playing violin
at this point in my life, and I look forward
to playing for the next twenty years. We had a
member in the Slovenia Orchestra, Rosemary, who played until she
was ninety nine. She started playing when she was nine.
(13:29):
She finally stepped away when she was ninety nine.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
You know, it keeps everything going, you know, your muscle,
memory or your attention, your memory, your excitement. It's a
great activity that kind of puts everything together.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Now, personally, do you still practice every day right? Because
you're part of the orchestra.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
I still practice, of course, And.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
He didn't say every day, right.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Are there pieces as you get into this, are there
pieces you look at and say, Okay, I have to
reset my goal. I made the symphony, but man, there's
a piece that I really want to learn to play. Well,
that's my next goal. Do you reset goals for yourself
as you go along?
Speaker 5 (14:12):
You do?
Speaker 4 (14:12):
And and you have you you play recitals, you play
chamber of music concerts, you play symphony concerts, and you're
constantly challenged by one piece or another, and you know,
I wish I had a little bit more time to
to play these days. The music school is keeping us
very busy, as you can imagine, and thankfully we've been
(14:33):
growing and every step of the way requires another step
on another development. So yeah, it's it's been a very
pleasant journey.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
So you're on violin. What does your wife teach?
Speaker 5 (14:46):
She's she doesn't teach.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
She finished an MBA here at ut with focused on
administration and marketing and and yes, and.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It's good playing, very handy caught that she.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Does a great job.
Speaker 4 (14:59):
And and so she takes piano lessons for fun and
to understand, and she loves it and she.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Takes with piano. I know you take voice because my
granddaughter took voice. There run down the list of opportunities for.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
We're going to now go into the long extended segment
because he doesn't know how many instruments because I was
shocked when I heard it. Really it's very impressive.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Well, so we try to cover all the instruments. Of course,
the kazoo is not in the repertoire. Unfortunately, we don't
have a kazoo teacher, but we don't like to volunteer.
All right, well, very good, So we teach all instruments, winds, brass, strings, drums, voice, piano, guitar,
(15:47):
everything you can think of, pretty much.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
So band and orchestra and concert band, concert band, marching band, orchestra.
Speaker 5 (15:53):
Correct everything.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Yes, so we have about fifty teachers whichoose from. And
so one of our is is that we can probably
accommodate a family of two, three, four on the same day,
same time because of the volume.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Of when it comes to that kind of stuff, Yeah,
what about your physical facility, because you you grew from
one little slot down on what's what.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
It's on Sylvania.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yeah, and now you've taken over a whole block almost.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
We we thankfully grew little by little, and thankfully those
spaces became available as.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
At the right time as we're growing.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
So so now we're occupying four four little sections about
ten thousand square feet or so. They're not little actually
more on Avenue on Sylvania Avenue. So we have about
forty practice rooms. So it's and we have a dance
dance studio as well.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
You are you busy then? Pretty much?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
And like what are the operating hours for people who
want to know and how do they get.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
A hold of you?
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Nine am to nine pm Monday to Friday and Saturday
Sunday nine am to five pm.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Okay, so that's I mean, you can fit that. And
they're just about anybody's schedule pretty much after school, especially
during the summer, spring breaks, things like that.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Forte honestly, and of course I do know Virgil a
little bit, but they it's grown into the pre eminent
music school, a private music school in this area in
northwest Ohio. It's it's done a fantastic job, and I'm
so glad that so many students are learning from you,
and they'll If they're taking it privately, then chances are
(17:30):
so much better that they'll develop a love and a
passion for it that will last beyond high school.
Speaker 5 (17:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
You know, we we're blessed to be able to do
these kind of things. And there's nothing like seeing a
kid that started when he was two three years old
and now you see them at twelve thirteen on stage
and performing so well and with such passion, and it's
really rewarding.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
That's that really keeps us going.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
I'm glad you said that because I was just about
to ask is there a start age or an end
age any of this?
Speaker 4 (18:00):
Yeah, we start them at toddler, so about two years old.
And I have not thought about the cut off the age.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Plain too old.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
He will qualify he's at mid age.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
I just don't pick a cutoff age. That's the department
of sales prevention. You know you're getting into. Your wife
is not going to let you tell anybody there's two
that you can be too old to tell.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Well, then the thing is it harder, Like I'm already
seventy something, so I'm not going to start a new
hobby because you know, but you're in your forties and
you always wanted to learn how to play guitar or piano.
Is it too late? Is that ever too late?
Speaker 5 (18:35):
It's not too late.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
And a lot of people might think that the only
difference is that, of course the motor skills, you know,
fingers move a little bit, not as they don't cooperate
necessarily as as well as when you are younger. But so, yeah, okay,
it's going to be a little bit slower progress, but
you're still going to make progress.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
You're still going to enjoy it.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
You're going to have the relationship with your teacher, You're
gonna have the opportunities to meet other people in the
music world. You're gonna perform on stage. It's a lot
of it's a really overall gratifying activity.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Virtue, What was the inspiration for excuse me, what was
the inspiration for starting? You had a successful classical music
career in you know, you're in a major symphony orchestra
that's well regarded across the nation. What was the inspiration
to start?
Speaker 4 (19:24):
You know, this was never on my to do list
to take on this challenge of running a music school,
and it kind of landed unexpectedly I always thought I'm
going to eventually maybe even teach at a college. So
I was on track to continue my doctorate education and
this came out of nowhere and I thought, Okay, well,
(19:47):
you know what this opportunity is here, I'm going to
give it a try and see where it goes, and
if it fails, that that's what it is.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
I'll move on with my life.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
So but it was quite the country and I really
enjoyed it, and I still do. Uh, it's it's like
I said, it's very rewarding to see those kids perform,
and yeah, it's uh, it's been I guess I found
my forte as well in a business.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
By the way to award by the way, a Torch
Award winner with the Better Business Bureau. We've got to
mention that. So, yeah, thank you award winner for excellence
and congratulations.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
As we wrap it up, give people information on how
they can contact you. Facebook, website, phone number.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
We Yeah, very easy to find, especially if you just
type fourte music school. We're on Sylvania and Seco area. Well,
we'll be glad that to show you around, give you
a little tour, and yeah, we hope that you will
find your own forte excellent.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Thanks a lot, everyone. This is the end of the
first segment. We will be back after a short break
with John Bellamy and Eerie Home Improvement. Did you know
our area has over forty thousand businesses. Some are old,
some are new, but they all have a story to
tell about why they sell, how someone took a chance
once upon a time, someone with a heart for business. Hi,
this is Lane Monts, the host of the Better Business
(21:08):
Bureaus Heart for Business podcast. We know a thing or
two about our area's companies, after all, we've been keeping
tabs on them since nineteen nineteen. Join me in Toledo
radio legend Fred la Fever every week as our BBB
superheroes tell their origin story and share a few industry
secrets along the way. Welcome back to the program everyone,
Thanks for rejoining us after the break. I'm here today
(21:29):
with John Bellamy from Eerie Home Improvement out of the
Port Clinton, Sandusky area. Correct, yes, sir, And by the way,
I'm going to take this moment to mention Fred. This
is episode twelve, the second half of episode twelve. Wow,
I know, I wasn't sure we'd make it past episode one,
so we're one of the few podcasts for the Better
Business Bureau system across North America. This is the end
(21:51):
of the first quarter, so we'll be booking guests for
the second quarter as we speak. And so if you'd
like to be on the program or you have any questions,
comments or suggestions, you can email me Podgoblin at toledobbb
dot org. Podgoblin pod Goblin at toledobbb dot org. But
enough about us.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Yeah, because apparently we saved the best for last. This
is the second segment of the final show. As he said,
it's John Bellamy from my Eerie Home Improvements and we
were talking before we started recording. You're what twenty.
Speaker 6 (22:26):
Nine, twenty nine years old?
Speaker 2 (22:27):
You're a punk, he said.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
I've been doing this.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
I've been doing this all my life.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
You have how well he has been doing it all
his life.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
When did you start?
Speaker 6 (22:40):
Ah man?
Speaker 7 (22:43):
You know my I got two older brothers in the industry,
both the construction companies. I always had a liking to it.
I've always been good with my hands, never a book learner,
so I started building clubhouses in my backyard when I
was a little kid. Really yeah, anytime I can get
my anytime Dad went to work, and I had access
to the garage. You best believe I was in there
(23:04):
taking you know, the little nails and the hammer and
any piece of wood I can get and building some
kind of club house.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Seriously, so you really have been at it your whole life.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Whole life is your dad? Is your daddy?
Speaker 7 (23:15):
No, my dad actually owns a diesel mechanic business.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
Hands.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
Yeah, he's good with his hands. But you know, my
two older brothers. One owns a roofing company. He does roofing,
siding and uh gutters. And then I have another older
brother he does uh interior remodeling, so you know, he
does the inside and uh.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Whose company is the biggest mine? Yeah, and you're the youngest.
Speaker 6 (23:39):
I'm the youngest.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Oh, that's got to be fun it Thanksgiving?
Speaker 3 (23:42):
I was thinking too, feeling.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
So your one brother, your brother Daryl, does roofing. Your
other brother, Darryl does does siding. What does his brother do?
Speaker 6 (23:52):
I do it all? We do it all. We build
from the ground up.
Speaker 7 (23:55):
We remodel, we uh do small repairs, roofing, siding, windows, doors,
h new construction, room expansions, flooring, hard escapes, retaining walls.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
You know, foundation do you hire your brothers.
Speaker 7 (24:10):
I've honestly tried, uh the one, you know, the middle brother,
you know, but he he's got his family down there.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
And Okay, where's down there, Dayton, Ohio?
Speaker 7 (24:21):
Okay, all right, it's not too far, about two hours
that a city or just a yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
That's the that's the poor little sister for what you're operating.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
What you're operating area.
Speaker 7 (24:33):
Then we operate from Fremont, Oak Harbor all the way
out to you know, Port Clinton, uh, Marblehead, Lakeside, Cataba,
Sandusky here on.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
So you've got a pretty good area. And and your
other brother does he work in this area?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Also?
Speaker 6 (24:49):
No, they stay in the greater Dayton area.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Is that where you're originally from.
Speaker 7 (24:53):
Yeah, I got tired of, you know, fighting them for
for jobs, so you moved to the north coast. Yeah,
it's thinking it's better opportunities out here.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Well, yeah, there's a lot of lack of.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
Contractors in this this you know side of Ohio.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
So I'm gonna say there's a lack of good guns
right because the audience may or may not know. Ohio
is one of those states that does not license, does
not require a license for general contractors. Lots of states, Yeah,
lots of states do like of course, you still need
a license to be a plumber, electrician, h VAC boiler,
but to be a general contractor or a builder, you
(25:31):
don't need a license. In Ohio. I've been I've been
a personally been an advocate that the Ohio should adopt that,
but it has no mindset to do so. But what
that means is anybody with a truck, van or or
AMC pacer and a hammer.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
So it's so knowing that I didn't wasn't aware of
that before. How do you convince people a I'm the
best guy for the job. One of us are licensed
or anything, but I'm the guy you want.
Speaker 7 (25:55):
I register with every county. Uh, okay, doing so, I
registered as a GC, and doing that, I'm able to
do my own job. I can do the bigger jobs
where a lot of companies won't go and.
Speaker 6 (26:06):
Pay their dues, their fees. They stayed at a small scale,
hidden behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
They would fly under the radar. Are going to be
front and center.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
What are you registering?
Speaker 7 (26:17):
As you said, DC was a general contractor a GC GC,
so we do you know?
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Do it all all right?
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I didn't realize you could do that.
Speaker 7 (26:27):
There's certain like I believe it's Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland
you do you can get. There's certain jobs you cannot
land unless you do have Ohio's GC.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
And Toledo I know because I held that license for
twenty years. It's a very difficult test. And there was
a not to get into this too much, but there
was a legal debate as to whether cities could have
licenses when the state of Ohio decided you didn't need one,
and that kind of shook out. Under the Ohio home
rule law, you can as a city licensed contractor separately. So,
but to work in Toledo, if you're if you're doing
(27:01):
a job and you don't have the license, and BBB
checks for that, by the way, you can be red tagged,
and the and the building Inspects actually have the power
of criminal prosecution. Really they can bring a charge against you. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
So what was the test like that you took?
Speaker 6 (27:15):
I have not taken the test.
Speaker 7 (27:18):
So I so you register though, yes, everywhere I go
I register because you know, I don't I don't hide.
I want to be front and center. I take a
lot of pride in what I do. I you know,
I like to be set different from contractors. They you know,
contractors have a bad name.
Speaker 6 (27:35):
Yeah, you know your calling card absolutely?
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (27:39):
What what makes you have a good name? John? Talk
about that?
Speaker 7 (27:43):
I think I believe what makes us have a good
name is uh. I go out all the way and
above and beyond to.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
Make sure everybody's satisfied.
Speaker 7 (27:50):
You know, I set agreements, I make sure what I'm
doing is clear, and you know, I communicate well. I
show up when I'm when I when I say I'm
going to.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
You know, I don't just hire anybody.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (28:03):
I hire guys that you know are trustworthy, that you
know are somewhat clean cut, as clean cut as you
can get in the construction industry, which uh, you know
that's still far from in between.
Speaker 6 (28:16):
But you know that. I think that's what sets us
apart is uh.
Speaker 7 (28:19):
You know the drive I have to make sure you're
always satisfied.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Now, you you told me you had a slogan. Is
it Imagine Design Build? Am I remembering that?
Speaker 6 (28:29):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
To talk about that.
Speaker 7 (28:31):
We're going to get into that too, I think further
into this podcast.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
But imagine design build for me? Uh?
Speaker 7 (28:38):
I I do a lot of my own designing so
that I always say the customer has an imagine image
of what they want. You know, me and the customer
together design something. I bring their idea to a life
and logical you know way, and then me and my
team build it.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Well, you're not you're not not an architect, no, and
so some times you need I mean, design is one thing,
but are there times when you a homeowner needs to
have that architect stamp.
Speaker 7 (29:06):
Absolutely so, I you know, some uh some additions or
new homes will come up with a design and then
we'll get in touch with somebody that does uh you know,
uh legit blueprints, and then we'll send that idea and
then you know, they'll do their work making sure what
I've got planned is legit and will work, and you
(29:27):
know they'll adjust any areas they want, and then they'll
go ahead and put that out of.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Actually, when you say that, you sit down with them
so by hire and tell you, man, here's what I want.
Uh do you are you actually sitting down then and
like sketching out.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
Oh yeah, I'm very old school.
Speaker 7 (29:42):
I don't do the technology stuff. It hurts my brain.
It's a lot to figure out.
Speaker 5 (29:47):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (29:48):
That's where I consider myself. I'm an old soul there,
I break out the pencil, I break out the big
sheets of paper.
Speaker 6 (29:55):
I got the roller.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
That's what my mentor, Forrest Kushino did. He got the
big graft paper. He would draw it out with a
ruler and start labeling it and if we needed if
we needed stamped prince, then that would go to the
architect and sometimes those would be accepted by the local
building inspectrum.
Speaker 6 (30:11):
Depending on where you're at.
Speaker 7 (30:12):
Yeah, if it's readable and it's got you know, everything
that you know, there's a guideline to follow. And if
as long as you're drawling you know is to that guideline,
they will let it slide.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Have you gotten better at that? And how many years
have you been doing this?
Speaker 1 (30:28):
Thirty seven with your own it's only twenty nine my
own company this is year four, so four.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
So have you gotten better at that portion.
Speaker 6 (30:37):
Of my gosh? Yes?
Speaker 2 (30:39):
When I want to see some of your early drawing time.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
Now I look like scribble. You know when a kid
first starts coloring and it's wondering. That's what it looked like.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (30:48):
Now I've gotten a little more patient there.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
So so you are building full additions at times, that's
foundation work, structural, all the mechanicals, interior, finish, plumbing, electrical,
you're bringing it all.
Speaker 7 (31:00):
Together, bringing it all together, and those are it's hard
to bring it together, especially when you know you're like
we were talking about earlier. You got anybody that thinks
they know something about construction and they do this, and
then it's hidden by the finish work. Well when you
open it up, and then you're trying to trying to
take that addition and build it to the existing structure.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
It doesn't always work like you.
Speaker 7 (31:22):
Have it in your head because of you know, past
construction crews or companies doing their.
Speaker 6 (31:27):
What I like to call scabbing.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Are seen a lot of when visiting job sites for
remodelers and things that I've worked with in the past.
You see the mistakes that people and some of this
is in homes that are only ten years old.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
You look at a home that's ten years old and
you see all these gaps and wires and crags and
the rafts and stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
It's just like, how did they do that? How did
they get away with that?
Speaker 6 (31:53):
It's like freemont.
Speaker 7 (31:54):
I really try to avoid Freemont at all possible, because
you don't have to have permits to do things that
there so a lot of people just go.
Speaker 6 (32:03):
Out and and free rings.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
Wow, it's kind of like the wild West, is what
you're saying. Findley, Well, I grew up in Finley, but
we the company I worked for it was based in Perrysburg,
but we had a pretty large radius. So I mean,
just for the audience to know this is very true.
What John is doing is remodeling, retrofitting additions very It's
(32:27):
it's a lot harder than new construction. And I'm not
and I'm picking on new construction people because they do
an amazing job. They do an amazing job. They produce
some really good product, but there's more ingenuity required to
tie in something new to something old.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
And John, we talked about that.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Can you tell the audience what that challenge is and
why it's important that the designs flow.
Speaker 7 (32:48):
Yeah, that's and that goes with the tag. You know,
when a customer has a certain image in their head.
You know, when I go to the design process, it's
it's what's really going to work, know, because I got
to look at what's existing.
Speaker 6 (33:02):
And what I'm going to do and I got to
fab that to make.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
That work, Meaning fabricate, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7 (33:10):
To you know, build it to make sure it's seamless,
you know, because at the end of all goal is
when you step away from that project, you want it
to look like it was always part of the house.
You don't want it to look like like.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Like a deck or a sun room.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
It's everything has to flow coming off that original building exactly.
Speaker 7 (33:29):
If not, you you look like you got two separate
buildings combined, which I see a lot of is you know,
old to new and they retrofitted together and it just
doesn't blend, you know it.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
What's your favorite project you've ever done?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
John at first club Home, You don't.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
Have a favorite? What was your what was your favorite
girlfriend before you got Is that an equally difficult question
and equally perilous.
Speaker 7 (33:57):
I'd say my favorite one. We just did one actually
over the winner. We removed somebody's garage, removed half the roof,
and then we set you know, we built it as
a thirty eight by sixteen garage edition next to the
existing garage. And then we put ginormous roof trust or
(34:19):
loft trusses on top of their existing structure and tying
into our new structure. And I mean we took a
two bedroom house and turned it into a five bedroom.
Speaker 6 (34:28):
House with a garage.
Speaker 7 (34:30):
Wow, and it's that was probably thus far one of
my favorite jobs we've done. It went smooth to tea actually, besides,
you know the old structure, nothing was square, nothing was level.
I mean there's a couple areas where it was go
(34:53):
to the drawing board, scratch your head, brainstorm with a
couple other guys that you know are well respected and
known in the trade and problem solve.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
You know what time was that in?
Speaker 6 (35:03):
What that was? Marblehead?
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Okay, yep, So, uh.
Speaker 7 (35:07):
You know we were just doing it was a brick
ranch and everything we were doing was a stick build
and you know, uh, ill can you nod on a
twenty foot run? The brick x old x brick exterior
wall was out of square four inches. So when you're
setting pre engineered loft trusses that have a center cord
of thirty foot long, you know when on our on
(35:29):
your planning, you plan everything to go smooth. Well, when
a wall walks out four inches, it really throws a
head scratcher in there.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
That's what calking is for.
Speaker 7 (35:40):
Yeah, yeah, there's a whole there's a paint and pain
make a carpenterybody.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
Yes, and we don't. We don't do that here.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
So is that a job like that? Is that? Is
that what you would rather do because of the challenge?
Speaker 6 (35:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (35:57):
I like yeah, because new construction, and no offense to
anybody that does the new construction, because we do it
as well. But uh, it's almost brainless you start from
the ground up, you know. I mean there are you know,
complexities to it that make it hard, even the new construction,
but the addition building. It keeps you on your p's
(36:17):
and q's, you know, it keeps you sharp. You're thinking
you're burning every avenue, you know, and and sometimes you know,
I don't have the answers, you know, so I gotta
I gotta qualified group of guys that you know, do
the same thing in the same industry. And you know,
also I got some really good sales rep that they
(36:38):
are always a phone call away.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
Hey, this is what I got, this is where we're at.
This is my idea. But what's your idea? You know,
I don't know everything.
Speaker 7 (36:48):
I know a lot, but you know, and I'm I
got some humility to you know, when I need help
or we need to reach out I'm gonna, I'm gonna.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
I'm going to.
Speaker 7 (36:56):
Because you know, it goes to where I want to
be is one of the better people were, if not
the best. And in order to do that, you got
to reach out, you gotta have you got to ask
for help when helps do it right.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
So you're in high school, you're not good at the
book learning, like you said, Uh, at what point did
you say, Okay, my brother is doing this. My dad's
a d's mechanic, he's really good at his hands. I
probably could go ahead and start a company my own.
And then how did that happen? Because obviously you need
a banker and a CPA and somebody to tell you,
(37:27):
you know about Social Security payments for your workers and
all that kind of.
Speaker 7 (37:31):
Staff workers company. Yeah, yeah, I think what said? You know,
I was working for my brothers and then I went
and when I I did some work for another company,
and I seen how Irene his company, I seen the
things that he let fly, and I think, you know
what driven me to start my company was I wanted
(37:53):
to be different. I wanted to ensure good quality work,
and like I was saying previously, you know, I wanted
to create a different aim for contractors. I wanted to
give somebody a peace of mind, somebody, you know. I
want to start a company where somebody the customer can
trust and feel safe around and not feel you know.
Speaker 6 (38:13):
Look they're going to get ripped off exactly.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
Yeah. There's a new generation, a younger generation, Fred. You've
probably noticed it from some of our guests, A younger
generation of young businessmen and that are contractors. And I
feel like the trades fell out of favor for I
don't know, twenty or thirty years, and there's a return
to it coming.
Speaker 5 (38:31):
You can feel it.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
And there's some really good young businessmen and women involved
in construction. And it's different than when I got into
it twenty years ago. I can see a difference.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Did you do any of the career tech stuff through
your high school or through a vocational school at all?
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Or huh?
Speaker 6 (38:47):
I did auto body?
Speaker 7 (38:49):
Did you? I was going to work in my dad's
shop doing bodywork, but I decided that wasn't mechanic in
and turning wrenches isn't my thing. I do like it,
but not a career for me.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Let's be honest. She went to put In Bay, missed
the ferry back, and you never moved back. That's what rights.
Just like like like mad Dog back in his tent
out behind the round house, just kind of planted his
flag there.
Speaker 7 (39:16):
And got somebody pregnant and decided to stay.
Speaker 6 (39:21):
Now she's my fiance.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
That is.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
Nothing motivates a man like to buckle down like that for.
Speaker 6 (39:27):
Time to grow up. Now, you know that was my
grow up point.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
So where are you in five years or are you?
Are you happy with where you're at right now?
Speaker 6 (39:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 7 (39:36):
And it seems like every season we grow and double
and if not triple, you know these past years, we
every season, I mean when people are like this past season, uh,
you know, I was going to one of my big suppliers,
Carter Lumber, and you know they were like, hey man,
you know some of these bigger companies are reaching out saying,
we're you know, there's no work and you're you're busy,
(39:58):
You're slammed. I'm hiring the the dead of Winner, which
in the.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Work for you.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
I got.
Speaker 6 (40:06):
We got eight full.
Speaker 7 (40:07):
Time guys and we have two full time subgroups and
they have subcruise got about you know, anywhere between six
to sixteen working for them, depending on what it is.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (40:18):
So that's that's actually pretty sizable. Yeah, so what kind
of like, what kind of advertising and promotion to you
don't advertise, that's right, word of mouth. You just fell
down for it, You just ratcheted down.
Speaker 7 (40:31):
I have yard signs, you know, I put the yard
sign in the yard. I have my truck's logoed. But
other than that, I mean, I think it's a waste
of money. I think word of mouth is the best advertising.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
You're going to get. You're going to get to a
size and you're going to be proven wrong about that.
There comes a point where word of mouth alone ain't
gonna get it.
Speaker 7 (40:49):
No, I agree, especially with pulling in more employees. You know,
I think marketing. You know, I got a sister in
Lal who is big in Owen's courting for in the
marketing industry, and she's helping the fiance doing the you know,
Facebook page, and you know, uh, we're doing the website
and everything. And I agree that, you know, I'm I'm
at that point where unfortunately, word of mouth only get
(41:10):
you so far. You got to start marketing. You've got
to ensure that.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
I've even McDonald's markets, Yeah.
Speaker 7 (41:16):
I mean I've I've worked really hard to get the
guys that I got, and the guys that I got
are hard to come by. You don't want to lose
them by having to lay them off by not having
the work. So you do get to a point where,
you know, reeling it in bringing some guys on, you
don't want to lose them. You start to advertise in
ways and market and I'll tell you, well, let's do
(41:36):
a little of that word of mouth right now.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Give me your website, your Facebook and your phone number.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
Second guest today checking their phone for their phone number.
Speaker 7 (41:47):
Your phone number is four one nine six oh seven
one seven nine nine. Facebook is Eerie Home Improvement LLC?
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Okay, Erie Home Improvement? And is that the website? Also?
Speaker 6 (41:59):
Do you how that website is the Eerie Elite?
Speaker 4 (42:02):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (42:03):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (42:04):
And we'll be connecting the BBB's Facebook page with yours
if we haven't done so already, and vice versa. You know,
I'm very happy to have young business owners that are
on the up and coming and the Better Business Bureau.
Thank you very much, John for your time today. Any
last message you want to leave the listeners with us?
Fred plays the outro music.
Speaker 6 (42:23):
You want solid work come our way?
Speaker 2 (42:26):
You know you go it sounds like he can take
care of you.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
That's for sure, all right. Thanks a lot everybody for listening,
and this is the end of episode twelve, A Heart
for Business, Lane Monts and Fred La Fever hosted and
sponsored by the Better Business Bureau. Thank you when we
will see you next quarter.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
You can download and listen to this episode at iHeartRadio,
and all the previous episodes are still available on iHeartRadio
dot com.
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